The study and control of mechanochemical transduction in macromolecular systems (i.e., polymer mechanochemistry), holds promise for addressing grand challenges in areas such as drug delivery, sensory materials, and autonomous self-healing systems, and may also provide insights into how biological systems use physical impetus to trigger chemical responses. Precise control over the distribution of forces at the molecular level can be achieved through the development of polymeric materials capable of channeling elongational forces to mechanophores - functional groups that are designed to undergo selective bond scission in response to external force. By introducing a mechanophore at a specific point along the polymer chain, the application of stress to the polymer as a whole can be coupled to reactivity at a single site.
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